BLOGS

J.S. put me on the spot at ONYXCON today about not being on this site as much... so what I've been up to is shifting my focus slightly from virtual reality to Augmented Reality (AR).  

Augmented Reality (AR) technology has been in use since the 1990s, but a recognizable consumer market has only existed since 2009, driven by a growing demand for digital entertainment, smartphones and other mobile, camera-enabled devices such as iPads and handheld computers.  Mobile AR, which is only viewable through camera-enabled devices, overlays or adds graphics, sounds, other digital information and to the physical world.  Analysts predict that mobile AR will grow exponentially in the coming years, as more and more consumers purchase mobile devices and applications.  In fact, AR was listed as one of the top 10 emerging technologies in the MIT Technology Review.

So what I've been researching is the performative and visual languages of graffiti and breakdance (hip-hop) which abstracts and creates art from the urban experience.  Performance and motion capture, blended reality, and Wild Style abstraction reflects an evolving knowledge culture (graffiti, breakdancing, b-boying) that employs verbal, written, artistic, or performative representations of media in the body.  I'm comparing and contrasting this with capoeira.  Like capoeira, breakdancing or “breaking”  is known by quick and complex moves.  I discovered a cool article in Wire Tap magazine that compares and contrasts these similar art forms.

Bodies in motion effortlessly translate into symbolic, linguistic and spatial formulations. The performative language of graffiti – windup, tilt, float and freeze – generates dance poses and letters that are manipulated into recognizable forms. The wave (motion) becomes the letter S; arrows that are used to make letters aerodynamic are also gestures in dance routines, indicating directional or elemental forces in the environment.

Additionally, at the roots of these specialized forms, is African ritual and instrumentation.  Modern graffiti pioneers such as Rammellzee explored the futuristic, mythological and occult aspects of these art forms.  As the art makes its way into virtual and augmented game worlds or blended realities, it's important to explicate the ritual and language of these forms for younger generations.  Otherwise, they are consuming the basics, with no real substance or link to their histories.